Home » Sweden » Hjalmar Bergman
Hjalmar Bergman
Biography
Hjalmar Bergman was born in 1883 in Örebro. His father was a banker. As a child, Bergman was overweight and seemed to be behind both physically and mentally – his future brother-in-law described him as en madonnas jättebaby” (a giant baby of a madonna). He changed as he got older and travelled with his father, getting to know the world of money and the people who inhabited it, the stuff of his future work. He went to Uppsala University to study philosophy but he did not enjoy it and soon left. His parents gave him a grant to enable him to write and he went to Florence to study art and Italian and remained influenced by Italy throughout his career.
In 1903, he met Stina Lindberg, whose father was an actor-manager and whose mother was an actress. As a result, his first work was a play, which featured a theme that would appear throughout his work, that of a strong mother. He married Stina Lindberg but when his father died in 1915, he was revealed to be bankrupt and Bergman had to make his own living. He supplemented his other writing with writing film scripts. His early work was in different styles – crime, humour, a fictionalised biography of Savonarola. He continued to produce well-received plays, stories and novels, some of which were turned into films. Sadly, few of his works were translated into English and only two remain in print in English and then only in the USA. He died in 1931, an alcoholic and cocaine abuser.
Other links
Hjalmar Bergman
Hjalmar Bergman (in Swedish)
Hjalmar Bergman (in Swedish)
Hjalmar Bergman (in Swedish)
Bibliography
1905 Maria, Jesu moder
1906 Solivro, prins af Aeretanien
1907 Blå Blommor
1908 Det underbara leendet. Familjens renhet: Två skådespel
1908 Junker Erik (Junker Erik)
1909 Savonarola: En munkhistoria berättad af Messer Guidantonio Vespucci (later: Girolamo Savonarola: Munken som tjänade Gud)
1910 Amourer
1910 Hans nåds testamente
1912 Vi Bookar, Krokar och Rothar: Ur en stadskrönika
1913 Loewenhistorier
1913 Löngången: Skådespel i fyra akter
1914 Komedier i Bergslagen: Två släkter (later: Klockeberga och Ryglinge)
1915 Dansen på Frötjärn (Komedier i Bergslagen II)
1915 Parisina: Skådespel i tre akter
1916 Falska papper (as Holger Brate)
1916 Knutmässo marknad (Komedier i Berslagen III)
1916 Sagor
1917 Marionettspel: Dödens Arlekin, En skugga, Herr Sleeman kommer (Mr. Sleeman Is Coming)
1917 Mor i Sutre
1918 En döds memoarer (Memoirs of a Dead Man)
1918 Ett experiment: Komedi i tre akter
1919 Markurells i Wadköping (God’s Orchid)
1920 Herr von Hancken
1921 Farmor och Vår Herre (Thy Rod and Thy Staff)
1921 Vem dömer?
1922 Eros’ begravning
1923 Jag, Ljung och Medardus
1923 Spelhuset. Vävaren i Bagdad. Porten. Teater
1924 Chefen fru Ingeborg (The Head of the Firm)
1924 Nya sagor
1925 Flickan i frack
1925 Swedenhielms: Komedi i fyra akter (Swedenhielms: A Comedy in Four Acts))
1926 Dollar: Komedi i tre akter
1926 Jonas och Helen: En studie över fantasi och ungdom
1927 Kerrmans i paradiset
1928 Lotten Brenners ferier
1928″Patrasket”: Komedi i tre akter
1929 Kärlek genom ett fönster och andra berättelser
1930 Clownen Jac (Jac the Clown)
1931 Labyrinten: Noveller
1934 Modern Swedish Short Stories (contains several of his stories)
2004 Kanariehunden och andra noveller